A woman who made a string of false rape allegations against former partners
has been jailed for two years.

Leanne Black, 32, repeatedly claimed she had been attacked after rowing or breaking up with boyfriends over an eight year period, Newport Crown Court heard.

In one case, Black, of Cwmbran, South Wales, told police she had been drugged and repeatedly raped. On another occasion she said she had been kidnapped and molested by a partner.

Between 2005 and 2010 she made four allegations of rape to police but none of the cases reached court.

She was only arrested in March this year when she told police she had been raped by her boyfriend Kevin Crowley while she was sleeping. Officers had been called to the couple’s flat by Mr Crowley after Black had thrown plates at him.

He was arrested on suspicion of rape and detained at a police station where he was examined but Black later admitted she had made it up.

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David Wooler, prosecuting, said: "It was the most recent in a number of repeated false rape allegations against men since 2005."

The court heard that in June 2005, she made a rape allegation but the case did not proceed. Police took no further action because of conflicting evidence.

Then in July 2006, she accused her then partner of raping her twice but later admitted that she had made it up and the case was dropped.

In February 2009, she claimed she had been the victim of a serious sexual assault but later when she was spoken to by officers, she could not confirm anything had happened.

Then, in 2010, Black contacted police to say she had been drugged and raped by a boyfriend over a two-week period.

Officers investigated and her partner at the time was arrested however the case was dropped when police discovered she was still in touch with him and he had recently thrown her out of his home.

Following the most recent allegation, Mr Crowley was released on bail while police continued their investigations however Black then telephoned officers to admit she had made it up. She confirmed this in a subsequent police interview.

Her partners would have been jailed for up to five years if they had been found guilty of rape, the court was told.

Black admitted perverting the course of justice against Mr Crowley.

Jailing her, Judge William Gaskell said: "Police have to take all allegations of rape very seriously.

"Rape, when it happens, has a devastating effect for victims and causes great trauma.

"Many women never get over it. Women who make false allegations like you undermine the whole system and police investigations.

"It undermines the public's belief in the truth when allegations are truthfully made."

Gareth Driscoll, for Black, said she had entered an early guilty plea and had made a full and frank admission of the facts in a recorded interview.

After the hearing, Inspector Rory Waring of Gwent Police, said the sentence should "serve as a warning to anyone thinking of making false allegations of rape".

"As well as causing distress to innocent people accused of this terrible crime, cases like this distract officers from supporting real victims and prosecuting real offenders," he added.